


Not Your First Choice

by daisy_is_always_cold



Series: Marvel Oneshots [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-02-01 01:36:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21317134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisy_is_always_cold/pseuds/daisy_is_always_cold
Summary: Teenage reader is not adjusting to living at the Avengers Tower as Bucky Barnes' daughter.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader, Michelle Jones/Reader, Steve Rogers/Reader
Series: Marvel Oneshots [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956661
Comments: 2
Kudos: 96





	Not Your First Choice

You felt awful. For some reason, today was just shit. And you didn’t know what you could possibly do to make it any better. You’d left for school early that morning, it was the only way that Steve could drop you off and you really didn’t want to walk. So you haunted the empty hallways of the school for about an hour before the first bell rang. 

Originally, you’d planned to do homework, you had an hour so you might as well get something done. But then, you started talking to the guidance counselor and the next thing you knew, you were crying in her office. You successfully composed yourself before class began but it didn’t stop you from nervously tapping your hip bones as you walked to your locker. It was a habit you had when you were anxious. 

You had math first. Somehow, you made it through the class without breaking down, but you weren’t feeling good. Your stomach had started to hurt too, and you knew it was cramps. Your day had somehow gotten a bit worse. 

Then, you had a short break, but it was just long enough for you to walk all the way across the school to your next class, dance. You really didn’t want to change. You didn’t want to take off the sweatshirt that was quickly becoming your safety. But you did. You replaced it with an old t-shirt and leggings for dancing. You felt gross and weird the whole class, just waiting for it to end. 

When it finally did, you had approximately two minutes to change and get across the school for French. You made it just in time for your teacher to pass out the quiz you hadn’t had time to study for. You were pretty sure you got all of the accents wrong. The rest of the class passed in a bit of a daze. You were smiling, but it wasn’t really real. Nothing quite felt real. 

When lunch came, you just couldn’t seem to find the strength in yourself to sit with your friends and eat. You ditched them and found a quiet corner in the hallway to eat your lunch and do your best not to let tears fall down your face. You were successful, for the most part. 

You had Health after that. Another class that passed in a blur. And then history, you hardly paid attention to the lecture that the teacher was giving and as soon as you finished the short quiz at the end of class, you rushed out of the school before anyone could stop you. 

When you checked your phone, there was a message from Steve, telling you that he couldn’t pick you up and you’d have to either walk or take the bus back to the tower. You sighed before plugging your earbuds in and beginning to walk towards the tower. 

You could have called anyone else to pick you up and they would have, but you hated asking things of them. And you didn’t trust them. Steve was really the only one you talked to. Even when Tony tried to get you to relate to the other teen who was part of the Avengers. Peter Parker was way too energetic for you. 

It took you a little over an hour to get home, and you were not happy. You’d just lost an hour of homework time and you still didn’t feel good. You didn’t even bother to stop for something to eat on the way to your room. Somebody said hello to you but you didn’t respond. You were too focused on your final destination. 

Your room was quiet. You hadn’t done much decorating since you arrived a month and a half ago. It wasn’t that you didn’t have time, it was that you didn’t want to be here. You’d rather be living anywhere else, but instead, you were stuck here. 

So you sat in your almost empty room and did your homework for hours. When you finished, you simply moved from the desk to your bed and began to text one of your friends while you mindlessly scrolled through the channels on the TV that Tony had put in your room. 

You were really hoping that you could manage to distract yourself from the shitty feeling that you’d been stuck with all day. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
TWO HOURS LATER

Everyone in the tower was beginning to worry about you. At first, they’d just thought that you were adjusting to your new home, but now it had been over a month and you still refused to leave your room for anything beyond what was absolutely necessary. It didn’t help that Steve was still willing to cut you all of the slack you needed. 

They’d asked Peter if he noticed you hanging out with anyone in particular but you’d done a really good job at keeping your friends hidden from Peter. You knew that he’d been asked to keep an eye on you and you weren’t happy. 

Today was just another example of how much you weren’t thriving in your new environment. You didn’t show up for dinner after they asked Friday to alert you. And you weren’t in your room when Steve went to check for you. Immediately, the alarm bells went off in everyone’s heads. 

Steve called Peter to see if he’d seen you (he hadn’t), Tony tried to track your phone (you’d hid it under your bed), and the others went out to search New York City for you. For all they knew, you could have been abducted. 

You weren’t as crazy as they all wanted, or rather, expected you to be. Being the daughter of the Winter Soldier placed expectations on you. Expectations that you didn’t meet. You hadn’t been frozen, you hadn’t been trained or brainwashed by Hydra, you didn’t have any superpowers, you were just a normal girl who happened to have an assassin for a father. 

You didn’t even know if he knew you existed. You’d never met him and he’d left your mother before she told him that she was pregnant. And now, your mother was dead, Bucky Barnes’ status was unknown, and everyone was just waiting for you to mess up.

While Clint searched rooftops, Natasha walked a ten-block radius around the tower and Wanda searched the city for your mind’s presence. You, however, were not in a ten-block radius of the tower, nor were you on any rooftops. You were in the living room of your girlfriend’s house, watching a movie and cuddling in an attempt to make yourself feel a bit better. 

You hadn’t mentioned your bisexuality, or your girlfriend in the month and a half that you’d lived at the tower. You’d met Michelle Jones on the first day at your new school and had gone on a date with her that Friday. Now, you were in a committed relationship, and no one but the two of you knew about it. 

It took Wanda a little over an hour to find your presence in the city, and when she did, she was astonished at the comfort she could sense. She’d never been able to read this much comfort or content from you. Usually, all she could get was some combination of bad feelings. She quickly told Steve of your location and it was only a matter of minutes before he showed up at the front door.  
He was worried about what he might find...Wanda hadn’t given him anything other than your location, and for all he knew, you could be being held captive behind that door. He knocked twice and the two of you on the couch practically jumped. MJ got up off the couch and went to answer the door. 

“Hello.” She said and you couldn’t hear what the person on the other side of the door said. You picked at the kernels left in the bottom of the popcorn bowl until you heard your girlfriend call, “(Y/N), it’s for you.” 

“Who is it?” You asked.

“Steve Rogers.” 

“Shit!” You exclaimed, jumping up from where you had been situated on the couch. You rushed over to the door. 

“Hey, Steve.” You said nervously. “What’s up?” 

“You, young lady, are in big trouble.” He stated. “Come on, we’re going home so you can explain yourself to everybody.” 

You grabbed your bag and apologized to MJ, promising to text her later before following Steve out of the apartment building. 

The ride back to the tower was exceedingly quiet. You could practically see Steve stewing in the driver’s seat. When you arrived at the tower, he dragged you into the living room where everyone else was already sitting. 

“Do you have any idea how worried you made us? What we thought had happened to you?” Steve started. 

“I didn’t think I’d be gone long enough for you to notice.” You mumbled under your breath. 

“You could have just told us where you were going before you left! We would have been fine with it.” Tony cut in. 

“Where were you, anyway?” Wanda asked. She had to admit, she was still curious as to what had made you feel anything other than upset. 

“I was uh...I was um…” You didn’t know whether to lie to them or just to tell them the truth. “I was at a friend’s house.” 

“Wanda?” Tony turned to her, knowing she could detect whether or not you were lying. 

“She’s not lying but she’s not telling the whole truth either.” Wanda said, a curious look still on her face. “There’s something missing.”

“There’s nothing missing.” You said, knowing you weren’t being that convincing. “I was at a friend’s house.” 

“(Y/N).” Steve warned. 

“I’m not afraid to let Wanda read your mind.” Tony stated. 

“God, you’d think that you’d have at least a little bit of trust in me by now.” 

“We do! Or at least we did, but you have to admit that sneaking out and lying to us isn’t exactly the best way to keep our trust.”

“I guess I am the Winter Soldier’s daughter after all.” You muttered. 

“Excuse me?” Steve exclaimed. 

“Untrustworthy, a liar, everything everyone here expects me to be just because my dad got brainwashed and turned into a secret weapon for an evil organization.”

“That’s not-” 

“Not what? Not true? I’m the liar here, not you.” You stormed out of the room. You’d had enough of this. 

After you’d made sure to lock the door to your room, both manually and through Friday, and texted MJ, you decided a shower was in order. You hoped the hot water would calm down. And it did, at least a little. You slid into fuzzy pajamas and climbed into your bed. It was late now and you just wanted today to be over. You asked Friday to turn off the light and plugged in your phone.

As you closed your eyes to sleep, you heard the alarms sound throughout the tower, signalling an important mission, but you didn’t move. You let sleep grasp you and pull you into dreams. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

No one was in the tower the next morning as you got ready for school. The doors to their bedrooms were open which meant they were still gone on mission. There was a note on the kitchen counter, telling you that they’d be back soon and to have a good day at school. You threw the note in the trash before beginning the walk to school. 

The day passed slowly and you were glad when it was over. During your first class after lunch, you got a text from Steve. They were back from the mission but they were all tied up and wouldn’t be able to pick you up after school. He was sorry. You sighed before responding with a simple “okay”, spending the rest of your afternoon dreading the fact that you’d have to face them all when you got home. You hadn’t exactly left on the best terms. 

To your luck, it started raining about ten minutes before the final bell rang. Walking in the rain was not something that you wanted to do, but something you were about to do anyway. You pulled up the hood of your hoodie before exiting the building, your earbuds playing (Y/F/M) at full volume. 

You arrived at the Avengers Tower soaking wet. You nodded at the woman seated at the front desk as you walked through the lobby before heading to the private elevator that leads straight to the Avenger’s floors. There was another note on the counter, this time telling you to check in with them on the floor you called the “business floor” before starting your homework. You didn’t even bother to drop your drenched backpack before getting back in the elevator to travel down a few floors. Upon exiting the metal box, you followed the hallway to the large room on the end, figuring that’s where they’d all be. When you opened the door, they all turned to face you, obviously surprised at the sudden intrusion, and were even more surprised when they seemed to realize your waterlogged state. 

“Oh my God, (Y/N), I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize it was raining or I would have come picked you up.”

“Would you have?” You grumbled, not loud enough for him to make out. 

“Oh, you’re going to get sick.” You heard someone exclaim. 

“I’ll be fine.” You said. “Why did you need me to check in?”

“Just wanted to finish our conversation yesterday, but I think we should do that later, after you’ve changed into some dry clothes.”

“Fine.” You sighed. “I’ll be in my room if you need anything.” 

You turned to exit the room, noticing an unfamiliar figure in the room as you do. You shrugged it off, figuring it was just an agent for Fury or something.

The embrace of dry, warm sweatpants and a sweatshirt was exactly what you needed. You pulled your wet hair back in an attempt to keep it from your mind any more than it already was and began to work through your homework. Surprisingly, it didn’t take as much time as usual. You finished just in time for Friday to alert you that dinner was on the table. You turned off your desk lamp and headed to the common area. You sat down in one of the only remaining empty seats. 

“We need to have a discussion after dinner.” Steve said as he sat down next to you. 

“I’m aware.” You said. 

Dinner was quick and quiet. It appeared that everyone’s minds were somewhere else. You watched as, one by one, they each exited the room heading towards the floor you’d met them on earlier until it was just you and Steve. As soon as the last person had left the room (Tony), he turned to you. 

“We didn’t finish our discussion last night.” 

“And so you’re the one they decided to send to talk to me.”

“No, I volunteered.” 

“Of course you did.” You sighed. 

“Look, I need to get back down there soon, so could we please drop the snark?” 

“What is so important anyway? You’ve all been down there since I got home and none of you really wanted to be at dinner.” 

“That’s another thing we have to talk about.” He said. 

You didn’t say anything, waiting for him to explain. 

“After we talk about your little stunt yesterday.” He added to his statement. 

“Which part? The one where I snuck out or the one where I pointed out the way you all expect me to act?” 

“Both parts.” He paused before continuing. “We’re all working very hard to help you feel at home here but it’s hard to do that when you refuse to even try. We want to trust you but if you’re going to do things that show us that we can’t, we’re going to have to talk about the consequences.”

“See, but this is where we disagree. I don’t think you ever trusted me in the first place.” 

“We trust you, (Y/N), you just don’t want us to.” 

“No, the rest of you don’t want to trust me.”

“Why do you believe that.” 

“Steve, I believe that you want to trust me, but the others? They don’t want to trust me no matter how much they’ve convinced themselves they do. They want me to be his daughter. They want me to be the daughter of an assassin and a member of an evil organization and that’s why they don’t trust me.” 

“(Y/N), do you really believe that?” 

“Of course I do. I’ve been living here for a month and a half, do you really think I don’t notice these things?” 

“(Y/N), that’s not-”

“There was something else you wanted to talk about?” You changed the subject quickly. 

“(Y/N), you can’t just drop something like that and then move on.” 

“I just did. Please tell me what it is so I can go back to my room.” 

“Fine.” He sighed. “Last night, we were out on mission and we, uh, we found someone. We brought him back to the tower and I just thought you should know that he’s here.” 

“Who is he?” You asked, knowing something wasn’t right here.

“He’s your father.” Steve said. “James Buchanan Barnes.” 

You were silent. You couldn’t believe he was here. You couldn’t believe that the man who had unknowingly brought you to life and then ruined it was here. As if you needed something else to deal with right now. 

“I know it’s a lot, but at least for the next few days, you won’t have to see him, and when you do, he won’t know that you’re his daughter until we know that he’s stable enough and brainwashing is removed, and even then, we want to make sure you’re okay with it before we tell him.”

“Thank you.” You said quietly. 

“I’m really sorry that this is all happening at once.” 

“It’s fine, really. It was bound to happen eventually.” 

The two of you wrestled with quiet for the next few minutes before Steve got up from the table, “I should probably get back to work. We’ve almost broken through his lack of memory.”

“O-Okay.” You said before watching him go. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The next few weeks were awkward, to say the least. You made a point of avoiding absolutely everyone in the tower even more than you had before. You’d seen Bucky, or your dad (you weren’t exactly sure what to call him), a few times, but you’d worked hard to avoid him too. And, of course, that meant walking to and from school everyday because Steve had made it his personal project to take care of Bucky 24/7. Your options were to get a ride with Steve and bring Bucky along too, or to walk. You preferred walking. 

Steve made sure to update you everyday on Bucky’s progress, despite the fact that you really didn’t want to know. You didn’t want to think about the day where you’d have to tell him that you were his daughter. 

It was a Sunday and you were in the kitchen, making breakfast. Bucky and Steve were at the table and you were doing your best to ignore them. But that didn’t stop you from overhearing their conversation. 

“Who exactly is she?” You heard Bucky ask.  
“(Y/N)?”

“Yeah.” 

“Well, she’s (Y/N).”

“Yeah, but why is she here? Is she a part of the Avengers or something?” 

“No, she isn’t.”

“Then why is there a teenager in the tower?” You could hear the confusion in Bucky’s voice. 

“We brought her in after her mother died.” Steve tried to avoid the question.

“When was that?”

“A couple months ago.”

“What about her father?”

“She’s never met her father.” 

“Oh.” Bucky was clearly still confused. To be fair, Steve hadn’t really told him much of anything that actually answered his original question. 

You plugged in your earbuds and drowned out the rest of the conversation. 

Steve cornered you later and you were not happy about it. You’d been doing a good job of avoiding everyone since breakfast.  
“What do you want?” You said, your voice dripping with annoyance. 

“I think you should tell him.” 

“What happened to waiting until we both were ready.” 

“He is. And you need to let someone in. I’ve accepted that it’s not going to be any of us, and your father might be just the person.” 

“Yes, the man who’s recovering from the trauma of being a brainwashed assassin, and who doesn’t know he has a daughter, is the perfect person for me to talk to.” 

“(Y/N).” His face dropped.

“I’m just being honest.” You shrug. 

“No, (Y/N), look.” He nodded in the direction that your back was turned to. You turned around and your jaw dropped. Bucky Barnes stood on the other side of the room, clearly having heard your conversation. 

“I’ve got to go.” You said before bolting out of the room. God, you had screwed up big time. You locked the door to your room and fell onto your bed. What had you done? You’d thought that everything was screwed up before, but now, it was worse. You weren’t sure how you were going ever going to recover from this. Before you could even think through what you were doing, you grabbed your phone and a jacket, slipped out of your room, and out of the tower. 

It took you only half an hour to get to MJ’s house. You were greeted by her mother at the door. 

“(Y/N), it’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too, Mrs. Jones.” 

“I assume that you’re here for Michelle. She’s in her room.” 

“Thank you.” You smiled as she let you through the threshold. 

“You’re very welcome.” 

You followed the familiar hallway to the last door on the left before knocking on it calmly. MJ opened the door softly.  
“Hey, I wasn’t expecting you today, is everything alright?” 

“I know, I, I’m sorry, I just--something happened.” 

“Well, come in.” MJ looked worried now. “Sit.” she gestured to the bed. “What happened?”

“I-- I screwed up.” You started, tears pouring down your face now, “I was fighting with Steve again, and I--” You stopped for a minute to take a shallow breath. “I didn’t know he was there, I didn’t know he was going to hear.” 

“Who heard what?” MJ asked, rubbing your back. 

“He knows, Bucky knows.”

“Oh, (Y/N).” She exclaimed quietly as she pulled you in for a hug. You cried into her shoulder. 

“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” You said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” 

“You don’t need to know, not yet. But everything’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out.” 

“He’s going to hate me.”

“(Y/N), he’s not going to hate you. Why would you ever think that?”

“I didn’t tell him. I’ve known for months and I didn’t tell him.” 

“And I’m sure that he’ll understand why that is.” 

“But what if he doesn’t?” 

“(Y/N), if he doesn’t, then he’s the problem, not you. None of this is your fault.” 

“I just-”

“(Y/N).” She interrupted you. “Don’t you dare tell me otherwise. It’s not your fault and I’m not going to stop saying it until you believe it.” 

“I’ll believe you if you kiss me.” A small smile appeared on your face as you pulled back from her arms. It only took a matter of seconds for her lips to connect to yours. You loved it when she kissed you. You loved the feel of her lips upon yours. You loved everything about the way you could lose yourself in her. And then she pulled away. 

“You believe me now?” She asked, wiping tears from your cheeks. 

“Fine, maybe I believe you. Maybe.” 

“You just refuse to admit that I’m right.” 

“I am a stubborn asshole.” You shrugged, a smile still in bloom upon your face. 

“You may be stubborn, but you aren’t an asshole.” 

“Oh I am such an asshole.” You were laughing now. 

“Hey, I’m trying to be the nice girlfriend here, don’t make me agree with you!” Michelle laughed too. 

You were about to speak but you were interrupted by a knock on the door. 

“Come in!” MJ called. A figure of a teenage boy opened the door and it took you a few seconds to comprehend who it was. Peter fucking Parker was in the doorway. You thought that today couldn’t possibly get worse but you were wrong.

“Hey, MJ, I just had a homework question to ask--(Y/N)! What are you doing here?” 

Your thoughts were going a mile a minute. Peter was going to tell Tony and Tony was going to tell Steve and then everyone would know. Your life was over.

“I just--I uhhh-”

“Have you been crying?”

“What? No.” 

“You’ve been crying. What exactly is going on here?” Peter looked incredibly confused.

“(Y/N) also had a homework question.” MJ lied smoothly. “She’s just having a rough day. That’s all.” 

“You’re lying.” Peter said as his eyes narrowed. “Something’s going on here that you’re not saying.” 

“Peter, just drop it.” You pleaded.

“Is this where you were when you snuck out?” 

“Peter, please.” 

“Just tell me what’s going on. I won’t tell, I promise.”

“We’re dating.” MJ said quietly. 

“You’re what?” Peter’s face dropped in shock.

“We’re dating.” You repeated. It felt weird to say. You’d never really said it to anyone before. But it made you happy nonetheless.

“And nobody knows?” 

“You know.” MJ said sarcastically. 

“I think Mrs. Jones suspects.” You added quietly. 

“No, she doesn’t!” MJ turned to face you. “She would’ve told me.” 

“You haven’t seen the way she looks at me when I visit. She knows.” 

“I don’t think-”

“How long have you been dating?” Peter cut in. 

“A while now.” MJ said. “You were just too dumb to notice.” 

“MJ! Be nice!” You said quietly. 

“Honestly, it kind of makes sense.” Peter said, still trying to wrap his head around the new information that he’d discovered. His phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket. 

“Steve is frantically texting the group chat that you’re missing.” He directed his statement at you. “What should I say?” 

“Nothing. Don’t say anything.” You said, slightly frantically. 

“They’re probably going to check here first.” MJ said quietly. 

“We’ll deal with that when we need to.” 

“Look, I don’t want to get caught with you here, Steve already hates me and I don’t-”

He was cut off when the door opened and revealed Mrs. Jones and an angry Steve Rogers. 

“Oh shit.” You muttered under your breath. 

“‘Oh shit’ is right, (Y/N). You are in so much trouble.” He surveyed the room to find Peter, shrinking into the corner. 

“Really, Peter? You too? I thought better of you than this!” 

“Mr. Rogers I-” Peter tried to explain himself. 

“I don’t want to hear it. Come on, we’re going back to the tower to have a very serious conversation.” 

MJ waved apologetically as you exited the room, following Steve. 

“I am very sorry about this.” Steve said to Mrs. Jones. 

“Oh it’s fine. Trust me, if I knew she had snuck out, I would’ve told you.” She still found a way to smile. 

When you arrived back to the tower, the two of you were ushered into the living room before you could argue. 

“Sit.” Steve stated angrily. “And don’t move.” 

The two of you sat down on the couch as Steve left the room. You assumed that he was going to get at least Tony, if not Bucky too. You sat in silence while you waited for his return, and even when he did return with the others, you didn’t move a muscle. You were ready to deal with any consequences...Peter, on the other hand, did not look ready at all. He kept shifting nervously. 

“So I just want to get this story straight,” Tony started, “(Y/N) snuck out with the help of Peter?” 

“No!” Peter exclaimed, “I didn’t even know she was there until I arrived.”

“So you just happened to be at the same place at the same time when you got caught?” 

“Yes! I just went to MJ’s to ask about a homework assignment since I missed my last class on Friday and (Y/N) was there when I got there!” 

“(Y/N), is that true?” Steve asked, turning to you. You nodded.

“So how exactly did Peter not know that you were close with one of his friends?” 

“I’m good at keeping secrets, I guess.” You shrugged. 

“That’s not necessarily a good thing.” Peter muttered under his breath. 

“Look, I get it, Steve. You’re angry with me. You don’t trust me. All of that. Whatever. It was going to happen anyway, I just took matters into my own hands.” You pulled your knees up to your chest. “You can stop acting like my parent because you aren’t.” And with that, you got up from your place on the couch and headed to your room. But you didn’t miss the shocked expression on Bucky’s face and the hurt one on Steve’s as you passed. 

You hadn’t been in your room for long when there was a soft knock on your door. 

“Come in,” You said, too lazy to get up from your chair by the window. You’d had Friday send up a cup of tea that you’d been enjoying along with the view of the city below. You figured it was Steve, he was the only one who even tried to parent you anymore. What you did not expect was the metal-armed former assassin to quietly turn the knob and stand in the doorway. 

“I brought cookies.” He said before you could even get a word out of your mouth. He closed the door behind him and made his way over to the chair across from you, holding out a plate of cookies to offer you one. 

“Thanks.” You said and grabbed a pumpkin chocolate chip one from the stack.

He sat down before he started talking, “So I learned something interesting this morning.” 

“Really?” 

“Yes.” He set the plate down. “I learned that I have a daughter and her name is (Y/N).”

“That is very interesting, indeed.” 

“And I learned that she’s a bit hard to manage.” 

“For Steve, anyway.” You muttered under your breath. 

“And I learned that she is very good at sneaking out.” 

“I wouldn’t say she’s very good at it. I’d say that Steve is just bad at catching her.” 

He chuckled a little and you found yourself smiling just a little bit. 

“He’s starting to think you’re a nightmare, you know.” 

“For the record, I’m not a devil child. I just hate this place and most of the people in it.”

“And why is that?” 

“I’m sure you don’t know this, but the reason I’m here is because my mother died. After she did, Steve decided that it would be better for me to move here instead of in with my grandmother.” 

“How did Steve even know you exist?” 

“He found me when he was doing research into your past.”

“God, I’m sorry. That sucks.” 

“It’s not exactly how I wanted things to go.” You shrugged. 

“If you don’t mind, where did you live before you moved here?”

“A tiny unimportant town near the border of Montana and Canada.” You could see Bucky’s brain working as he tried to remember the place, your mother. 

“I don’t expect you to remember.” You said. “Your mind got all screwed up.” 

“I, I want to...it’s just all so mixed up.”  
“That’s okay.” 

“I do want to get to know you, if that’s okay with you.”

“I’d like that too, I think. What do you want to know?” You asked, a smile on your face. You liked him. 

“Can we start with where you were? I don’t mean to pry or anything, I’m just curious as to who you would go to.” He asked before quickly trying to justify his question. 

“I was at MJ’s house. She’s Peter’s friend.” You said. And before you could even think through what you were saying, you blurted, “And my girlfriend.” 

“Your girlfriend?”

“Yeah.” You said. 

“Cool.” 

You stayed that way for a while, the two of you passing facts about each other back and forth. And when Friday alerted you that it was time for dinner, for once you weren’t that upset, because no matter what you were about to face at that table, you knew that you had somebody on your side. You had your father on your side.


End file.
